The Mahindra 4X4 has left the last Indian MP post and entered hostile territory. The driver switched off all lights and the only light source was the backlight of the SATHI terminal carried by Capt Ajit Sams. He tried to conceal it as far as possible from being seen outside. On the screen, a gridded map was visible and the position of the vehicle indicated by a red X. At the top of the screen the ragged curve that represents the river Ravi started to show up.

They were driving beyond the recently occupied Sahiwal area in the northwesterly direction. No major enemy force presence was known on this side of the river. The thrust that culminated in the epic battle of Sahiwal is over, and there is a slack for couple of days. Both armies obviously are trying to regroup their logistics, so no advance happened for the past couple of days. Especially the Indians had to strengthen their supply route which was spread thin due to the charge. The front now lies in the plains to the west of the highway, but well before the river, but the current position of the vehicle is several kilometres beyond the active presence of the Indian army. They are on a recce mission, but this is no ordinary mission either.

Capt. Ajit Sams from the special forces commando unit was hand picked for the mission. The real nature of the mission was so secret that Brigadier Sunil has specifically instructed him not to divulge it even to his team. So, even his trusted right hand man, Lt. Anzal Hassan did not know what the ultimate aim of the mission. Nor did he know what is in the briefcase-sized box his commander carried. The other three commandos didn't care. Yadav, Rao and Pillai knew their leader well and trusted him, and that is all mattered. The mission briefing was clear. All of them knew what they were supposed to do, but none other than Ajit knew what HE was supposed to do.

Though the briefing indicated a standard scouting like mission, the team was in fact equipped for a commando mission. All the members wore Kevlar flakjackets with ceramic plating and were carrying the standard issue Tavors with night vision sights attached. Several ammo clips hung inside the outer jacket, along with the comm module hooked up to the collar mike and earbud. It fully networked the team using an encrypted digital link over a spread spectrum CDMA wireless network. A small assortment of lightweight munitions and the automatic pistol completed the equipment.

The disclosed objective of the mission was to scout out an area near the city of Kamalia, where some enemy installations are supposed to exist. Satellite and aerial recce photos had indicated installations of certain level of importance among the rolling hillocks on the near bank of the river. A UAV flight a couple of days before the operation Chakravyuh had indicated heavy truck movement on the dirt track leading to the area of interest. Now that the road from the highway is cut off, the alternate access over a longer track to the northwest should have been used. However the IPV printout shown to Ajit did not indicate any recent use of that track. That perplexed the command to an extent. It means either the place is abandoned, or they are waiting with a surprise. They needed to know, at least that is the reason Ajit told Anzal and others.

The 4X4 turned away from the paved surface to a dirt track. it heaved heavily when it passed over the rocks and boulders. It reminded Ajit his school days in a village in central Tamil Nadu. The seven odd kilometres of walk sometimes eased by a lift in the Goundar's old villyz jeep. The sonless Goundar loved him like a son, and that was the only reason the sixth kid of a sharecropper on the Goundar's lands went to college and got selected for Army commission. He said a silent prayer to the Holy Virgin Mother of the famous shrine near to his village. A devout christian, he prayed for the success of the mission and the safe return of all.

A muffled beep from the SATHI device caught his attention. The GPS receiver has signaled the arrival at a specified location. As if on cue, the 4X4 stopped. Without a sound, the five-member team got out. The driver remained on the vehicle. Night vision scopes on, Ajit started walking the small trail going ot the right. Others followed him in single file. No noise, not even that of breathing was heard. Tavors held lightly, but in readiness. The SATHI rested in the pocket of Ajit's jacket, and the mystery box in his left hand.

After going around 300 metres, Ajit made the sign to halt. The trail seem to end there. So, he had to check out with his SATHI. The multimode positioning receiver of the handheld device can pinpoint its position within a metre. A monochrome aerial photo of the area appeared on the screen, with their precise location, and the path they were supposed to take in a red line. Ajit realized he got to backtrack around 50 metres and keep to the left for the correct trail. The backlight, though kept to low intensity, made shadows on his face. He let the application window open and simply closed the reinforced ABS lid over the LCD screen. They slowly backtracked, identified the turnout and proceeded on the correct path. But navigation got more difficult here, because what seemed like a clear trail in recce photos came out to be not so on the ground in darkness. Ajit had to constantly check with his SATHI for navigation. He was concerned that the backlight could be seen from some distance, and he tried to shade it as far as possible.

They reached the village road as expected. the plotted path took them on the road for around 150 metres and then turned right again into another trail. That trail would get them to the rear of the target area. The walk through the road was considered dangerous because that path looked like to be used by the installation. The team paused just before entering the road and checked it out. Nothing unusual was found. They the proceeded to walk towards north on the road. When they almost approached the turnout point, Ajit once again opened the console and looked at it.

Suddenly, without any sound something hit his right arm, and it went numb. the SATHI terminal fell out. He dropped the briefcase from the left hand, pulled the Tavor to the left and while trying to hold on to the stock and threading the index finger through the trigger guard, turned right. Searing pain started from his rightshoulder. Bullets buzzed around and hit him on the chest, cracking the ceramic layers and getting flattened against the Kevlar. He saw Anzal turn around, and sending bursts of fire, but they were only reflexive fire. Both of them fell to the ground, and even so, something heavy hit him on the back of the head. Dark shapes appeared around them before they could recover. Commands shouted in urdu, hands were yanked to the back and tied up to the legs. Ajit saw someone pick up the SATHI termnal and his briefcase. A sharp kick with a metal toed boot landed on the left side of his chest. Breathless, he lost consciousness, not able to complete the silent prayer he started.

When Ajit regained consciousness, his whole body was throbbing with pain. He was lying on his left side and the ribs stung like they were on fire. His hands and legs were still tied on the back, and the bullet would on the right shoulder was still bleeding. The flakjacket and shirt was removed and he was naked above waist. He was lying on the hardened earth pavement of the village road, and he could gather that they were not far from where he fell to the ambush.

"Sir can we move the kafirs now"? Someone was asking. Another voice answered. "No, we need to find out what is in this terminal first.". Someone was trying to operate the SATHI terminal. Ajit turned his head slowly and tried to look in that direction. The SATHI do have both local and remote self destruct. The attack came so fast and unexpected, he could not hit the screensaver key. The device is open now with the mission tracker application running. The navigation of the program is simple, so it will not be difficult to get the full information. they will not, however, be able to open any other application without his access code. Now the only hope is that either someone at mission control would see something suspicious and remote self destruct it, or the enemy would leave the system inactive for more than two minutes, bringing the screensaver on.

Surprisedly, the guy who operated the SATHI seemed like to know what he is doing. By the conversation, he seems to be a signalman or something. He was responding submissively to the harsh commanding voice, but showed a level of confidence in what he is saying. Then he heard a lot of hushed talk, and realized that they found out their destination. "Come on guys.. look at the tracker screen for christ's sake and destruct this box" he thought and prayed. And the enemy did a blunder to attract attention at that moment.

The origin of the SATHI system was from the Simputer project, which envisaged a handheld multilingual computer for the Indian masses. Powered by an ARM processor and running a Linux based operating system, the Simputer failed to make the huge impact its creators expected it to. Then the Indian Defense business opened up for private players and the Simputer took another avatar as the SATHI. It provides a situational awareness and communication platform, which has a lot of flexible options. It uses an encrypted wireless network to talk to other devices and to command centres. It has a multimode positioning receiver and GIS mapping system. It can send and receive secured text messages and with proper adaptors, can even serve as a secured phone, or a webcam server. Whenever the SATHI is within range of another one or a control center, the network system will log onto the network and keep its status updated. It is possible to access the resources on the network subject to authorization.

Not knowing what he is doing, the intruder simply hit the "Directory" hotbutton. He saw a map of the network, something like the ubiquious windows directory, with resources named with codes. And the mistake was he tapped on one of the icons. A window popped up for the access code. He knew his mistake, and he was sure the system will either lock up or self destruct if he entered the wrong information. He decided to wait.

Ajit heard the normally dreaded "tripple chirp", The sound indicating authorization failure. Without any warning, the screen went blank and the backlight turned off. An electrical surge rushed through the memory cells, erasing the information permanently. A gold super capacitor discharged through a nichrome plated film and obliterated the crypto coprocessor silicon chip. within afew milliseconds, the SATHI became a piece of junk, but the enemy already knew where these men headed, and probably guessed the purpose too.

Ajit was unceremoniously brought to his feet and forced to walk. The bind on his legs were loosened just enough for him to shuffle on. He saw Anzal being accorded the same courtesy. He could not see the others, but he could make out a couple of shapes on the roads, that could be their lifeless bodies. the Pakistanis only took SOME prisoners. With pain throbbing from every corner of his body, and the prayer to the holy mother in his mind, he limped on, guided by two enemy soldiers on either side.

"Ajit Sams, Captain, Indian Army, Serial No IC-28432", whispered Ajit to the Pakistani officer sitting on the chair across him. It was the beginning of a long ordeal that made him wish he was dead.

He was sitting on an iron folding chair in an otherwise nondescript room. His hands were still bound behind him. His bullet wound was now dressed up, but it still pained like hell. The back of his head was numb, with throbbing pain spreading out from there. One of his left ribs appeared to be cracked and he found it very difficult to breath. He was dressed up in the same camo trousers, and without a shirt. His throat and tongue was dry from thirst. He had not drank anything after they left the command post the previous night.

The officer in front of him did not wear his rank. He was sitting on a comfortable chair, behind a steel table. His countenance was neutral, with a steely indifference. He was tall and fair, with a protruding hawkish nose and penetrating eyes with a greenish tinge. "Tall, Fair and tight @$$ed!" thought Ajit even in his pain.

"Do you need something, Captain?". He asked in an accent that had a british flavour. "Water", Ajit said. "Paani Laa", and a tall pathan soldier brought a glass of water and kept it on the table. But he shown no attempt to give it to Ajit.

"What is an Indian soldier doing in our country Captain? came the question. Ajit did not answer. "Tell me, Captain, what WERE YOU doing?". Still no answer.

"See Captain Sams, the Pakistani Army is a honourable institution. We intend to adhere to the international conventions on how to treat prisoners of war. All you have to do is to show a little bit of co-operation, and you can go home once the war is over. Have your water."

Though he said that, he made no effort to give the water to Ajit, who is sitting with his hands tied behind the chair. Ajit made no move.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk... My bad... Your hands are tied right? I will get Ijaz here to bring the water to your mouth in a second" A pause and then..

"Tell me, what were you doing?" and still no water.

"Ijaz isko paani pilaa". The pathan came and took the glass. Ajit waited with trembling lips. He coolly took a step towards Ajit and poured the water over his head. Ajit fought back the urge to extend his tongue to catch little bit of the water. Some of the water washed up his sweat and brought a salty taste to his mouth.

The officer suddenly stood up, and turned around. Then he turned his face towards Ajit and said "Think about it. Being tough doesn't helpYOU, but it might help US." and he left the room. The pathan dragged Ajit to his feet and led him back to his confinement. Hands still bound, Ajit fell on his face as the size 12 feet of the pathan landed a merciless kick on his back. The world turned black again.

Capt Ajit Sams really wished he was dead. He was again sitting on the steel chair in front of the cruelly indifferent Pakistani officer. Every part of his body ached. The tall Pathan soldier and his people had tried unimaginable means of torture on his body. There was no questioning. They just came back to his cell and without a word just started pounding him. His back was full of welts from whipping with a rawhide whip. His chest stung from cigarette burns, and his face was all swollen. After a good deal of torture, he was left there for some time before being drawn up for more interrogation.

"Tell me Captain, what were you doing here last night?" Came the steely calm voice. Ajit kept quiet. "You are just prolonging the suffering Captain.". He then motioned towards the door, and Ijaz brought a box to the table. Ajit recognized it to be the briefcase he carried last night. "What is this Captain?". Ajit still kept quiet. The officer stood up, and then with measured steps came around closer to Ajit. "What..... Is....... This......, Cap...tain?" Ajit looked down and away.

Without warning the boots of the officer stepped on the bare feet of Ajit, crushing the toes. "What is inside this box?" came the question again. "Anbulla yeasuve, enathu paavangkal theera un meyyae nee chiluvaiyil baliyaakaththantha anpirkkaaka unakku nantri". The prayer came in the form of a groan. The officer was surprised at this. He couldn't figure out the strange language. "What did you say" and Ajit repeated the prayer. Now the officer figured out that he is babbling.

The routine went on for some more time. The officer wanted to know about the next advance by the Indian army, and the armaments being used. Ajit gave away more of his prayers.

"Look you kafir. You are not human. You are a lowlife kafir, and I would give you only that consideration. If you decide to co-operate, you stall have a chance of getting back after the war. Think it over." And Ijaz once again dragged Ajit back to his cell.

Meanwhile, the self destruction of the SATHI was reported to the network centre. In the morning, a UAV flight has located the scene of the capture, and located three bodies on the road. The Pakistanis did not show the basic human courtesy to the dead, or maybe they were left there to be picked up later. It was speculated that the remaining two members might have escaped, but them being POWS were seen to be more pragmatic.

More than the failure of the mission and the possible capture of the personnel, what troubled the command was that the secret device that Ajit carried was compromised. Another concern was that the suspect installation was still a mystery. It was decided to leave it alone for time being, to be attended to after the next advance. There was a risk associated with that, but the advance could not be delayed due to that. Finally Ajit was declared missing in action formally, and everyone turned their attention to the next big advance.

Nitin thanks and here is some eleaborations
-INSchola was not exactly assigned for a SSK role she was on a normal strategic patrol like all missile subs do in a conflict or in peace situation . but from all the info on indian nuclear sub it is not going to be like an ohio or typhoon i think it is something like an akula with capability to fire medium range sub launched missiles .So that makes it a multiple purpose sub some thing like a mirage 2000 primary purpose strategic deterence and secondary purpose submarine killing at extended range if situation dictates. Look at her location at the time of conflict near gulf of oman from where she can cover all of pakistan and iran and a sizable part of saudi arabia which happen to be our main area of interest . I am quite sure that would be the patrol zone of any indian nuclear sub both in peace and war except if some specific situation may call it to be deployed in south china sea or atlantic for that matter but that situation does not exist as on the date .
Secondly the situation developed quickly Vikramaditya carrier group was quite far out and it would not have been prudent make it operate close to uss abraham linchon even with all the understanding we have - it would make it vulnerable which definitely no sane navl commander would do .

Thirdly the ultimate kill was done by naval strike aircraft not by Chola therby maintaining its ambiguity and no compromise on its position was made but however if the bear was unsucessful Chola would have fired off her 635 mm torpedoes to save the 30 million gallon LNG carrier. That was the last option but fortunately not required to be used in this case .

" The first cryogenic fuelled aircraft for the govt owned domestic airline Indian Airlines capable of operating with both liquified natural gas and kerosene is likely to be delivered in a few days . Designed and manufactured by famous Tupolov Design bureu of Russia more well known for its heavy bombers like Backfires and Blackjacks also happens to be the leading manufacturer of civilian aircraft in russia which includes much vaunted Tu-154.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the delivery of 6 of these dual fuelled aircraft is a percussor to a bigger deal wherein IAF is likely aquire 2 squadrons of Tu 160 Black jack long range strategic bombers from the same manufacturer almost simultaneously .However no confirmation from minisry of defense was available on this account.

To assure their Indian customers on the safety of this new technology and new aircraft first flight is likely to have the russian minister of civil aviation on board along with senior officials of Robenexport and Indian civil aviation ministry . Further details of this visit have been not disclosed due to security reasons .

" aquiring these zero pollution aircraft from our trusted supplier will mark a new begining in the indo-russian co operation in the sector of civilian aviation sector ,so far dominated by american and french aircraft manufacturer .Possibility of manufacturing these long range transport aircraft or even the supersonic transport aircraft of the same manufacturer may become a reality very soon "said a beaming Indian Airlines managing director to assembled media personnel..

Kareen khan kept down the paper a thick frown forming up on his usally expressionless face . He was too intelligent to miss the underlying message . The civilian aircraft deal is just the tip of the iceberg -a red hering thrown up for the international media .At last Indians have decided to go for supersonic strategic bombers in a big way under the thinly guised civilian aircraft purchase protocol .

Something need to be done -something to show the world that he was not in agreement with indian long term strategic objective .This operation he decided to personally monitor thru his trusted ISI operatives . The key to the whole deal was operational safety of the new russian aircraft and that factor could easily be proven to be not true . The indian public and democracy will do the rest he was sure.

He picked up the red coloured tripple encrypted phie to ISI headquarters to set the complex opertion in motion involving operatives in russia,chechnya and several other central asian republics -an operation to discredit the credibility of russian aviation industry as a whole .

Why would Kareen Khan be worried about an event that is going to occur 200 years later, when he is fighting for his life by the second at this very hour?
What about all the gyaan on training, developing tactics etc?
This cover of civilian jet is no cover at all, so why go there?
How did the Ruskies conjure up new civilian jets?
Shankar, this civilian jets cover needs a bit more cloth.

PRESIDENTS OFFICE - ISLAMABAD
-----------------------------------------
Kareen khan was a very very methodical person -so while preparing to sabotage the indo russian aircraft deal which invariably would lead to larger cooperation in the field of under license in India he decided to spend a few minutes searching the net and visited the Tupolev site on cryogenic aircraft and this is waht he found in short.

Unknown to the general public as early as mid 1970s Alexi tupolev decided to build a liquid hydrohen powered aircraft . Such aircraft was built and tested without any serious operating or manufacturing problem .There were about 30 new sub systems and systems that were needed to be developed for this specialised aircraft with the main objective of proving operational safety.The aircraft was named Tu-155 .However the fuel selection was not very correct with respect to russias available energy resources where more than 505 of proven reserves were natural gas and supply and availability of liquid hydrogen the original cryogenic fuel tested put for the aircraft was much more difficult to distribute over the vast land mass of russia . Subsequently Tu 154 a/c was modified to accept bith liquid hydrogen and liquid methane more commonly called liquified natural gas . This was worlds first cryogenic aircraft .

The basic properties of liquid hydrogen which makes it an ideal fuel for aviation use are
1) cleanest fuel combustion products are water vapour
2) high heat of combustion or high energy density
3)high cooling capacity and as such can be used in regenerative cooling that is the outgoing hot gases exchange heat with incomming cold fluid at -252 degree celcius therby making it more efficeant energy recovery system and also allowing the engine to operate at much higher thermal loading than would be possible with a conventional jet fuelled engine.

The main problem of liquid hydrogen however is its availability and price and as such their use so far limited to space transportation only . Compared to this liquid methane or LNG is much more freely available and can be transported more easily .Here lies the advantage of Tu 154which can technicaly use eiether liquid hydrogen for critical missions or liquid natural gas whereever available or kerosen if nothing is available.

The Tu 155 a/s was built on the basis of Tu 154 B . Some changes were required in airframe and the cryogenic fuel feed system particularly the fuel feed pump . Storage of liquid hydrogen or LNG was done in a specially designed vacuum jacketed multilayer radiation heat reflecting storage tank. To enhance fire safety the crogenic fuel storage tank was isolated by a vented section to prevent accumulation of highly inflammale hydrogen/methane from adjacent fuselage compartments. The NK 88 engine used could be operated with any of the cryogenic fuels /kerosene .

The project was mothballed during economic crisis and revived again when the comming into force of koyoto protocol made swit ch over to non polluting fuel more attractive . Indian airlines was the first carrier to order the first batch of these cryogenic fuelled aircraft in the world.

The use of liquid hydrogen in aviation was however nothing new .The USAF used liquid hydrogen powered engines in its highly classified project suntan way back in late fifties and early sixties . Many of the developments of that project went on to be further developed and incorporated in the legendary Sr 71 project though for reasons not publicised liquid hydrogen engine was not incorporated in the aircraft . Whether they were used in Project Aurora or not is still classified . However the liquid hydrogen engine technology definitely were used inspace shuttle programme for the shuttle main engine and also the recent X-33 single stage to orbit space craft currently under development .

Kareen khan switched off the monitor and reached for a cup of coffe profered by his secratory a burly pathan from Northern light infantry as he pondered over how to attack most effectively the Indian dream.

SHREMTYEVO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT- MOSCOW
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cold it was very very cold on the tarmacs of russias premier internatinal airport where the Tu-155 k was getting ready for its first inaugaural commercial flight . With the mercurry dipping to -28 deg c and a strong wind blowing for those working on the sleek tri engined jet life was definitely not easy. Apart from standard ground technicians from Aeroflot some specialised technicians from Tupolev design bureu was also present to supervise the fuelling operation and carry out the last minute checks on sensitive electronics and cryo fuel feed systems of this new generation of aircraft to come into worlds attention for the first time . Md Iqbal was one of them -his responsibility was to ensure fuelling have been done satisfactorily and carry out a dummy check on all automated solenoid valves feeding the three tail mounted engines are ok .He was engineer inthe employ of Tupolev involved with resuurection of this moth balled project right from the begining and considered by his russian superior the best man for the job . Today security was very tight but for Iqbal with Tu photo identity badge clipped on his chest - access to the VIP aircarft was not a problem and he started his inspection and calibration checks under the watchful eyes of spetsnaz troopers specially deployed for this flight..

Iqbal was a sleper agent of ISI whose main job was to watch the new developments in russian aerspace industry and report them to his superiors in Islamabad during his annual visit to homeland once every year . He never communicated to them by email phone or fax niether did they till yesterday when a coded message advised him to meet the cultural attache of pakistani embassy in moscow in a secluded spot on the banks of Moscova river where he managed to pick up an old used envelope with a russian postage stamp (uncancelled) .Back home in his dreary 2 roomed apartment he carefully removed the stamp on the back of which was pasted a micro film dot detailing what he should do and how . Once memorised the micro dot he burned and disposed his microfilm reader inthe garbage chute after breaking up into several unrecnizable parts .He knew he was taking a big risk but he was also well motivated and conditioned to take such risks after all death for religious glory was a fair exchange .

The wind was building up and the spetsnaz guard detail was getting more and more distracted standing by doing nothing while the lone technician seem to take forever adjusting some god forsaken piece of machinery at the tail of the aircraft .Smoking was stictly prohibited near liquid hydrogen and the guard shack was only 50 ft away . The temptation was too much and so the trooper decided to take a brisk walk around leaving Iqbal alone for a few precious minutes . When he came back the asian technician have apparently finished adjustments and closing up the access panel of the starboard cargo hatch .loading bay . He did not find it unusal at this sudden switch in maintainance postion since he was not generaly interested in anything technical.

The seeds of destruction has been planted -a few moments of negligence and the price may have to be paid by a nation . Time strted running out for the Tu 155k from that moment onwards .

Tu 155 k -SHEREMETYEVO AIRPORT-MOSCOW
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Capt Nicholai watched over his first officer Alexi punch in the way point co ordinates into the flight computer .Fuelling of 17.2 tons of cryo fuel was completed without any hassle and he looked forward to the long flight ahead .
The nearly 4000 kms distance to Delhi was expected to take just over 8 hrs and the flight would take them over Domodevo- Penzer -Saratov-Samera- Uralsk where they would enter Kazakstan airspce and then onto Aktunbiask-Nuku and then into Krygstan aorspace Okyzylorlorda - Samarkand -Dushabee to Afganistan over Kabul and then a short hop over pakistani Kashmir to Delhi.

Capt Nicholai did not worry much over the security aspects of the flight that he left to his air force friends who indicated to him about airforce escorts all the way to Kazak border and then a short gap over the central asian republics and then Indian airforce would do the needful as the flight exited Afganistan.

Being one of the seniormost test pilots of Tupolev and had flown almost all the large aircraft designed and manufactured by them starting from Tu 95 to Tu 22 and ofcourse the much vaunted Tu 160 Blackjack along with the well Known Tu-154 passenger jet and now the cryogenic engine derivative Tu 155 k . Like all born aviators flying was always a pleasure and chance to fly unique airafts for the first time only enhanced it. He was not knew to india and during his frequent visits to the great country he did manage to pick up a working knowledge of Hindustani and a liking for dance bars of Mumbai which he found very relaxing . Last time he flew in was 2 yrs back when Gorshkov deal was inked and one personal visit to Goa as a passenger when indians reported serious operating problems of the 4 Tu 22 s just inducted and needed some serious instructions on how to take care a supersonic bomber in low level stike missions. The thought of Goa brought a slight smile to the vetern aviators face as he remembered the wild beaches and even wilder nights.
- captain we are ready to take on passengers immediately after preflight
the voice of his co pilot a senior commander of Aeroflot broke his thought and made him get back to task in hand

Not far from the cockpit of Tupolev jet The russian aviation minister duly supported by his Indian counterpart toasted indian -russian friendship with 805 proof original russian vodka strong enogh to knock out a polar bear that frequent its icy frontiers -strangely it did not sem to have much effect on the politicians.

Don't mean to be rude. But what we have been reading here is way better than what Airavat has written. The larger picture is very well sketched in this thread. It is true that with many contributing it is difficult to string the posts together. But this is definitely first rate "airport paperback" stuff.

DIRECTORATE FOR INTER SERVICE INTELLIGENCE - PESHWAR
-PAKISTAN
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Brigadier Habib put down phone from the nations chief executive .Strangely he was smiling .He had many old scores to settle with the indians and their russian friends and what better way to humiliate them in front of the worlds media than showing them helpless in front of a " rag tag militia" (pakistani soldiers in plain clothes . But to do that he need to bring down the aircraft intact in an area within his easy reach and as far away from russian and indian airspace as possible . The map of central asia was open before him and the land mass between Krygstan and Peshwar appeared to be best . He also needed a long not much used runway where the giant tupolev aircraft will have to land if the timer based device provided by a chechan engineer really worked .With the leaving of last US forces few months back to re inforce their Iraq garrison Afganistan was an open country to play with for the time being.

It was important to show Pakistan had no connection with the proposed "acciedent" if known he did not rate the chance of survival of his motherland with a very angry russian bear on rampage .

After much "thought" his fingers landed on a finger of land with a good long runway which met his noble objcetive perfectly

CITY OF OSH - KYRGYZSTAN
-------------------------------------
Osh is the administartive centre of Osh oblast and the second bigest city of Kyrgyzstan . Situated in east of Fergana velley at an altitude of 1000 mtrs from sea level it is a picturesque city surrounded by hills and Alai mountain ridge. The swift flowing mountaneous river of Ak-Bura divides the city into two . The best mode of communication with the capital Bishkek is by air the alternative being a hair raising mountaneous road ride almost 600 km long.

Osh is one of the most ancient cities of central asia and did find mention in arab sources as early as 9 th century . Today almost nothing has survived the ancient Osh . The archeological data indicates Osh was surrounded by a fortified wall with three gates .Inside there was a citadel surrounded with shakristan .The mosque was near the Ak-bura river . In the 11th century when Uzghen city became the capital of Fargana ilekhans Osh gained lot of importance both economicaly and culturally in the region. The ancient trade route from central asia to eastern turkestan passed thru Osh.

As far as military history is concerned ,it is said Alexnder the great passed Osh on his way to india .Also it is said Babor the lion who later conquered india and initiated the Mughal dynasty had stayed in Osh.

Osh international airport is one of the largets airport in Fergana valley.The airport mainly serves to meet the air transportation needs of southern kyrgyzstan and is 389 km fromthe Bishkek ,322 kms from Tashkent,43 km from Andijan. The runway allows regual use by following types of aircraft -IL-76 with wt limitation max 163 tons, Tu154 8 flights per 24 hrs,Tu 134 and lower class without limitation on frequency. .It also allows use by B-737 and A-310 type aircraft..The airport operates 24 hrs a day and have 3 taxi tracks and 14 parking slots .The runway lenght is 2614 mtrs and 50 mtr wide.The airport complex serves both internal and international passengers ,can handle 200 passengers a day and a total area of about 1000 sq mtr . Adequte fueling and fuel analysis laboratory is available. The aviation fuel tank farm has a nominal storage of 5000 cu mtr of aviation fuel.

SHEREMETYEVO -2 AIRPORT MOSCOW
-----------------------------------------------
lLocated 35 kms from down town Moscow this new spanking air terminal is perhaps the most important gateway travellers to and from russia. The airport is equipped 10 telescoping gangways or aero bridges as we call them and a reasonably impressive capacity to handle more than 2000 passengers per hour .

The VIP enclosure on the second floor departure area was today a behive of activity with press and security teams present in equal numbers -all eyes were on the comming trip to India and the possibility of opening up of the booming indian civil aviation market to russian aircraft majors particularly the Tupolev and Illuysin. The gangway no 21 at the exteme end of departure terminal was sealed off to general public as the high profile indo-russian business delegation boarded the Illustrious Tu 155k onwards to what evryone thought an epoch making journey .

The god of destiny smiled on indulgently -only he was aware how remarkable the journey will be be -for the rest it was business as usal.

Tu 155k 07000 hrs IST
-----------------------------
Unknown to the pilots or the ground crew who finished one more round of walk a round check of the spanking new jet - the timer fixed to the cargo bay hatch lock was now live but still not "active" . It was a small suitcase sized device conected to the solenoid operated fuel feed manifold which distributes the cryogenic fuel in this case liquid methane to the three rear mounted engines sensing the throttle position individually. Since timing was very important the cheap digital timer incorporated into the system would be switched on only when the aircraft reached a cruise altitude in this case anywhere between 25-40000 ft bya simple microswitch slaved to the cockpit radio altimeter . This way any delay or last minute change in take off scedule by runway congestion or security authorities will not affect the time to target or more simply when the fuel will be cut off by de energising the solenoid of the fuel control valves and the aircraft will be forced to land in less than 20 minutes .

The routine started and as Nicholai inched the throttle forward the giant aircraft accelerated smoothly onto the designated taxiway already under an inch of snow even after being cleaned up barely an hour ago . It took almost 10 minutes to reach the active runway his ground speed barely exceeding 15 knots all through .

It was blinding white and white all over .The icicles forming up around the ATC windows made interesting shapes and snow on the runway quickly forming up a slippery dirty looking mush as one after another the heavy commercial jets warily made way over them .

- Sheremetyevo tower -alpha foxtrot 601 -request clearence for take off
- alpha foxtrot 601 you are cleared for take 0ff -

Taking off from a snow covered runway no matter how recently they have used the blowers is always very very dangerous and no one knew it more than Capt Nicholai who was always tense before such an event no matter how many times in apst he has done it .
As he pushed up the collective throttle lever very very gingerly and felt the aircraft move -take traction and slowly starteing to acceelerate .Alexi put one of his hand on the throttle to steady the movement without being asked and together they pushed it first 1/4 th forward and only when the indicated air speed reached 60 knots -pushed it all the way forward . accleration was too fast because of reduced ground friction and they reached rotation speed with more than 25% of the runway stil unused . Alexi pulledup the under carriage as they crossed the frozen Moskva river -the river from which the city got its name and climbed staedily thru the over cast skies to clearer weather hope fully at the assigned cruising altitude .Nicholai dutifully retracted the undercarriage .
-alpha foxtrot 601 you are leaving my airspace -contact moscow centre on 118.7 -good day
- contacting moscow center on 118.7 - good day Sheremetyevo
The altimter indicated 8000 mtrs and airspeed 385 knots when Nicholai retracted the flaps to cruise configuration .
A tiny electrical signal from the radio altimeter dispaly circuit also energised the microswitch which in its turn started the crude digital timer connected to the fuel valve solenoid . From now on evry minute they loose or gain compared to programmed flight path will affect their life and maybe death.

SHEREMETYEVO -2 AIRPORT MOSCOW
-----------------------------------------------
lLocated 35 kms from down town Moscow this new spanking air terminal is perhaps the most important gateway travellers to and from russia. The airport is equipped 10 telescoping gangways or aero bridges as we call them and a reasonably impressive capacity to handle more than 2000 passengers per hour .

The VIP enclosure on the second floor departure area was today a behive of activity with press and security teams present in equal numbers -all eyes were on the comming trip to India and the possibility of opening up of the booming indian civil aviation market to russian aircraft majors particularly the Tupolev and Illuysin. The gangway no 21 at the exteme end of departure terminal was sealed off to general public as the high profile indo-russian business delegation boarded the Illustrious Tu 155k onwards to what evryone thought an epoch making journey .

The god of destiny smiled on indulgently -only he was aware how remarkable the journey will be be -for the rest it was business as usal.

Tu 155k 07000 hrs IST
-----------------------------
Unknown to the pilots or the ground crew who finished one more round of walk a round check of the spanking new jet - the timer fixed to the cargo bay hatch lock was now live but still not "active" . It was a small suitcase sized device conected to the solenoid operated fuel feed manifold which distributes the cryogenic fuel in this case liquid methane to the three rear mounted engines sensing the throttle position individually. Since timing was very important the cheap digital timer incorporated into the system would be switched on only when the aircraft reached a cruise altitude in this case anywhere between 25-40000 ft bya simple microswitch slaved to the cockpit radio altimeter . This way any delay or last minute change in take off scedule by runway congestion or security authorities will not affect the time to target or more simply when the fuel will be cut off by de energising the solenoid of the fuel control valves and the aircraft will be forced to land in less than 20 minutes .

The routine started and as Nicholai inched the throttle forward the giant aircraft accelerated smoothly onto the designated taxiway already under an inch of snow even after being cleaned up barely an hour ago . It took almost 10 minutes to reach the active runway his ground speed barely exceeding 15 knots all through .

It was blinding white and white all over .The icicles forming up around the ATC windows made interesting shapes and snow on the runway quickly forming up a slippery dirty looking mush as one after another the heavy commercial jets warily made way over them .

- Sheremetyevo tower -alpha foxtrot 601 -request clearence for take off
- alpha foxtrot 601 you are cleared for take 0ff -

Taking off from a snow covered runway no matter how recently they have used the blowers is always very very dangerous and no one knew it more than Capt Nicholai who was always tense before such an event no matter how many times in apst he has done it .
As he pushed up the collective throttle lever very very gingerly and felt the aircraft move -take traction and slowly starteing to acceelerate .Alexi put one of his hand on the throttle to steady the movement without being asked and together they pushed it first 1/4 th forward and only when the indicated air speed reached 60 knots -pushed it all the way forward . accleration was too fast because of reduced ground friction and they reached rotation speed with more than 25% of the runway stil unused . Alexi pulledup the under carriage as they crossed the frozen Moskva river -the river from which the city got its name and climbed staedily thru the over cast skies to clearer weather hope fully at the assigned cruising altitude .
-alpha foxtrot 601 you are leaving my airspace -contact moscow centre on 118.7 -good day
- contacting moscow center on 118.7 - good day Sheremetyevo
The altimter indicated 8000 mtrs and airspeed 385 knots when Nicholai retracted the flaps to cruise configuration .
A tiny electrical signal from the radio altimeter dispaly circuit also energised the microswitch which in its turn started the crude digital timer connected to the fuel valve solenoid . From now on evry minute they loose or gain compared to programmed flight path will affect their life and maybe death.

Pennathur, When you have to say it it definitely is. What has Airvat doen to you?

Ayyo Ramanagaru! Airavat is a fine writer, I bought his book online. But this scenario is way beyond what he has written in OpKar. The big picture - why is it hapening? - is not at all clear. I am sure Airavat can do much better and OpKar is certainly not the best he can do.

The ear shattering boom of the M-101 rattled the buildings. Even the soldier who stood guard was startled. Capt Ajit Sams, now a POW with Pakistan Military, was in the makeshift interrogation chamber. It was evident that the place was not expected to handle POWs, and they unit had to do some adjustments to accommodate them. It was the second day of captivity, and ajit was kind of surpirsed that he was not dead yet. His captors fed him only water and dry roti, that too without any curry either. They even joked about the rice eating habbit of Indians. Even after almost 36 hours of captivity, he had no idea what happened to Anzal Hassan, who got captured with him.

The Pakistanis very much wanted to know about the battle plans of the Indians, but they realized Ajit himself had no idea about them. The questioning about the black box were in fact useless, because once they broke it open, it was easy to guess its use. Still they interspersed that question just to keep the flow. They were disappointed because Ajit did not tell them anything. Ajit was more or less sure that he will be shot in a moment of frustration. Frankly, he didn't care at this point of time.

He was standing, with both of his hands tied together using a rope and pulled up over a beam above. It was stretched slightly to make it very uncomfortable. His right arm stil pained like hell from the bullet wound. His whole upper body is covered by bruises, welts and cigarette burns. He was so tired, his body wanted to give up and go limp, but somehow his mind fought back and kept him standing.

The alarm sounded, and there was a frenzy of activity. Men rushed around and he could hear indistinct shouts. Then the incessant booms of the howitzers started. It went on for at least ten minutes. It was not sure where they were firing, but he guessed that the target would be an advancing Indian formation. Ajit did not expect anyone to launch an attack to rescue him. That means either they are sweeping over this area, or the Pakistanis are firing on their advance over the main road, which is around 8 km away. In either case, he can expect retaliatory fire any time.

Ajit had no way of knowing that it was a deadly mistake by the Pakistanis. The Indians had decided to byepass the place and proceed over the highway. From the recons they knew that this place is now isolated and there was no indication from the Pakistanis to either move anything out of there or get reinforcements in. that reduced the value of the target considerably. In fact there was even talk at the command level that the mission of Ajit and team was a mistake. Accordingly, the main front marched southwest over the highway. The Pakistanis did not realize that they were spared for time being, and thinking that the advance is on them decided to open fire with the limited supply of howitzers they had. Soon, they started getting the retaliation, and when it came, it came heavily.

The T-90s of IBG 606 suspended their advance and turned the turrets in unison to the right. And the first volley of shells flew away in a majestic arc towards the foolish bunch of howitzers. WLRs and Nishants flying overhead provided accurate targeting information, and the tanks pounded away, not knowing that they might kill one of their own in the process.

The first volley of shells went a bit too high, but their explosion trembled the place. A brief moment later another bunch of explosions happened a lot closer A part of the roof of the building was blown away. The soldier guarding Ajit ducked and turned to run inside. He was swept to the side by a blast of shrapnel. Ajit was sure he was going to die, but someone inside him told him to take a chance.

With great difficulty and pain Ajit put his weight on the rope that kept him half hanging. Searing pain resulted from his injured arm. Trying to shut out the pain, and muttering a prayer through his clenched teeth, he lifted his legs up. Slowly his feet raised up and held onto the rope. He then twisted the rope around the feet and raised himself inch by inch, till he could reach the simple loop knot that tied onto the cross loop between his wrists. Supporting his weight by wrapping his knee and calf around the rope, he started undoing the loop knot using his teeth. Within a minute he could undo it. Then another explosion and he fell down, finally free from the rope, but still his hands are tied together. A part of the roof came down on him. Instinctively he rolled to a side and escaped from being crushed. Taking advantage of the shade, he went to work untying the hands, and was completely free in another minute. He then crawled out from under the collapsed roof and for the first time saw the place that held him captive, now in the midst of destruction. Soldiers were running around, manning the gun stations, re loading and carrying ammo. The whole place was a misarray. Ajit took a few seconds, hiding behind a half collapsed wall to take his bearings.

The Pakistani military installation was a few acres in area, with a tall wall with razor wire around it. There was a main gate on the southern wall, and guard posts on all the four corners. The were not manned right now. What looked like barracks were built close to the western wall, of which some had collapsed, including the one housed Ajit. There were a few underground bunkers on the northern side, with ramps leading to them ending at steel doors, sufficient to back up a whole 18 wheeler truck. The howitzers were firing from outside the eastern wall, of which a length of several metres had collapsed, leaving the rebars of the concrete still standing.

Another volley of shells came humming, and exploded somewhere to the east of the complex. One of them landed inside the wall and obliterated a truck parked there. Ajit ducked down for a moment, then ran like hell, keeping close to the wall of the building. He saw a dead soldier several metres away in the yard. He sprinted to the body. Before he could reach there, he heard a shout and bullets buzzed around him, narrowly missing him. He dived forward, dragging his body on the ground, reached the dead soldier and picked up his rifle. He turned around, looking in the direction of the shout, and found another soldier squeezing out another burst at him. He rolled over the dead soldier, taking the cover of the dead man, and fired a burst on the assailant, bringing him down. He took a moment to pick up the ammo from the dead man, and crawled back towards the building again. Another big explosion came, this time breaking open the southern wall.
Ajit ran to the north, and around the northern end of the barracks.

He reached the corner, and took out two more Pakistanis standing guard in front of the bunkers. He could read the urdu sign on the door mentioning one of the central asian invaders of centuries ago. He fought back the urge to take a look inside. Doing so was suicidal. Instead, he dragged the dead men to a corner and took the boots of one of them that almost fit him. The walk back is going to be long and he needed the boots. He then crawled back up the ramp, taking out two more unlucky Pakistanis in the process. He then ran back to the barracks, in an attempt to locate Anzal. He ran, ducked down, to the building close to the one housed him, and started searching. He found Anzal in one of them, but he was already dead, and a very fresh bullet wound on the back of his head told how the cowardly Pakistanis shot the prisoner after the attack started.

One more dead soldier later Ajit was back at the north side. Nothing more to do here, he ran out of the compound through the collapsed section of the northern wall, and entered the rugged terrain. He briskly walked away from the place, further to the north. It was a long trek to home.

He was barely a kilometre away, when a huge explosion happened behind him. He knew the Indian artillery has finally found the target. He turned around and watched the immense fireball that lit up. He sat down on a rock and started a prayer.

THE DAWN ISLAMABAD
-------------------------
A small group of Pakistani armed forces will take part in a joint anti -terorrist exercise with Peoples Republic of China special forces in the remote mountain terrain of eastern china bordering Krgystan . The exercise will last 7 days and will involve development of a series of tactical scenarios involving terorists and most effective way of neutralising them in a multilateral situation .

PAF BASE PESHWAR
------------------------
The four C-130 s were loaded and ready to fly .Between them they were carrying 120 fully armed pakistani special forces personnel for the ensuing " Joint exercise".Their wepons included 80 mm mortars .a couple of recoilless rifles jeep mounted, 6 stinger missils ,4 medium machine guns ,fragmentation grenades and usal assorted assault rifles and hand guns . They also carried many cases of live ammo for their weapons.

Colonel Tariq was in charge ,a vetern of Kargil ( lucky to escape alive the murderous arty assualt on Tiger Hill ) .The complete team was hand chose by him from the ranks of northern light infantry . All have faced enemy fire and all would obey him to hells end if quired .

As mandated they have already filed the intended flight plan to USAF authorities in Bagram Afganistan . Their flight route would take them over
Afganistan -Kazakstan -Krygstan and on to Eastern most mountaneous region of China. A refuelling stop was indiacted on the flight plan- Osh Krygstan .

EMBASSY OF PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA -ISLAMABAD
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ambassador Lin Chi Piao was an early riser and always made it a point to to see the sun rising followed by several cups of green tea and the morning news paper which included the local Dawn . Today he was a bit perplexed at the news report bout impending joint special forces exercise with pakistan . Lin Chi Piao was athinking man and he always liked to be sure as far as his host country was concerned. He had no idea such war games are being planned and being a seasoned foreign service official decided to clarify the situationwith his superiors . It was already midday in Bejing ,so he just picked up his encrypted sat phone to his boss the forign minister of peoples republic of china .

ISI official in charge of planting this news item thru several inemediaries nevr anticipated such a situation .His brief was to create a cover story and publish it -this case he was few hours too early .

Unknown to general public the relationship between India and China have undergone a sea change over the last decade riding on the back of an unprecedented economioc boom and burgeoning bi lateral trade . This slowly got reflected in miltary relationships as well and the more than 3000 kms of common border cooled down. Irresponsible remarks by some politicians did create occasional furore but both side were too mature to take these abberations seriously. A tri axis between russia -china and India appeared more and more plausible as an effective counter to growing US presence in the asia pacific and energy rich central asian region . This was at the back of forieghn ministers mind as he tried to understand the reason behind the bogus press report faxed to him by ambassador Piao from Islamabad . After a quick consultation with his collegue in defense ministry he decide to drop a subtle hint to his Indian counterpart that something was just not right . He definitely did not want to be responsible for dragging his country in pakistans foolish games of one upmanship . He was sure indians will do the needful .

The phone started ringing at the residence of indian ambassador in Bejing a few minutes later .

AF 601 SOME WHERE OVER RUSSIAN AIRSPACE
--------------------------------------------------------
Capt Nicholai was relaxing with a very difficult take off behind him and his xo doing the needful of keeping in touch with the 4 Su-27 escorts and the area controllers -he looked at the dials and guages and also at the land below slowly getting lighted by the golden rays of sun . Nicholai was more than a patriot he was more of a nationalist .He was proud to be a russian and more proud of its achievments . Each sarcastic editorials on western news papers about miserable state of russian state hurt him deeply . The countries which even a decade back trembled at the very thought of red army now have taken on a sueprior air of donors of aid.

Russian economy was rebounding with a vigor -with more than 6.5 percent straight growth for 7 yr running and currency reserves touching 150 billion
dollars from miserable 12 billion 8 yrs back it was no longer the poor old russia anymore. The pressnt high oil price helped and so did the heavy military orders from friends like India and China .the russian bear has come out of hibernation and looking at his friends and foes with a fresh look. The western world has written off Russia as a developing country forgetting the might of white bear - the formidable nuclear arsnel,the cutting edge technolgy in aerospace ,the massive industrial capability just waiting to be modernised and unleashed into worlds market, the thinking capabilty of russian intellectualas and scientists ,the huge land mass bigger than a continent and immesurable mineral resources most of which yet to be tapped under the frozen waste called siberia and finally the grit and pride of russian people which made victory at Stalingrad possible .

Compared to this the US civilisation is already at its apex and fast decaying into a world of paranoid self importance . Like all great civilisations the western civilisation has reached the limits of affluence and decandance -thought Nicholai, and when it collapses under its own weight of contradictions ther should be some one to take over the reins -he was sure it would be a consortium of russia and her friends may be in about 30 yrs time . He hoped to see that day.

-Ladies and gentlemen -this is your captain Nicholai fromthe flight deck -hope you are enjoying your flight in this new generation of cryogenic aircraft - we are now passing over the town of Aktubinsk and shall be entering the Kazagstan air shortly-we hoe the cabin crews are taking good care of you -shall get back to you once again in an hours time -have a nice flight .

PR dutry over Nicholai once again looked down at the changing landscape below the flat icy plains have given way to mountaneous peaks brilliant intheir winter finery. Not so long back all these states were part of his country and he hoped some day very soon they will once again join the federation . The reason -they are too rich and too vulnerable .

IAF STATION FARKHOR -TAJIKISTAN
------------------------------------------
Group captain Sunil Ayengar was on a routine morning round of this spanking new airbase with an extensive repair and training facilities. It happened to be the first indian airforce base overseas and at present housed a single squadron of Mig 29s and another of Mirage 2000 5 aquired from Qatar airforce at a discounted price . Two IL 76 s were also parked in the distance having just off loaded a cargo of spares for theMirages and usal supplies including latest hindi film CDs a huge hit with both the indian and Tajik pilots

Located 10 kms west of capital Danshbe the base came into being in the hey days of Taliban , Afraid of spread of Muslim fundamentalism the base was first offered to US but was considered too vulnerable by them from the view point opf personnel security and India moved in to fill the power vacuum in the region. Concurrently The Danshbe airbase was also re inforced by 5000 russian border troops to enhance the security of this enrgy rich republic. The russians did not post any combat aircraft here except a few Mi 26 s for tarnsportation purpose .

Compared to its size Tajik airforce was quite large and effective composed almost entirely of russian airforce left overs mostly Mig 29s ,sU -24 s Mi 17 s amd Mig 21 s . Commonality of equipment is what made indian offer for base un refusable to Tajikstan govt. Indian s had been doing the maintainance and training of their airforce equipment and in some cases their armour and arty pieces as well for the last few years . So far thought group captain Iyengar evrything ws going fine .

Back at his airconditioned "container "office found a message waiting for him -it was a low priority alert notification from air headquarters about a flight of 4 C-130 of PAF passing "his airspace " shortly .He was expecyted to keep a close watch .

Shankar wrote:Unknown to general public the relationship between India and China have undergone a sea change over the last decade riding on the back of an unprecedented economioc boom and burgeoning bi lateral trade . This slowly got reflected in miltary relationships as well and the more than 3000 kms of common border cooled down. Irresponsible remarks by some politicians did create occasional furore but both side were too mature to take these abberations seriously. A tri axis between russia -china and India appeared more and more plausible as an effective counter to growing US presence in the asia pacific and energy rich central asian region . This was at the back of forieghn ministers mind as he tried to understand the reason behind the bogus press report faxed to him by ambassador Piao from Islamabad . After a quick consultation with his collegue in defense ministry he decide to drop a subtle hint to his Indian counterpart that something was just not right . He definitely did not want to be responsible for dragging his country in pakistans foolish games of one upmanship . He was sure indians will do the needful .

Not sure how this fits with the Bangladesh episodes that started this whole scenario. One second they were basing their Sukhois in Bangladesh and another they're helping us.

Yes JTull is right and so is Shankar. China never followed Pakaistani designs and adventures. If they did so '65 could be a differet story and '71 could not be so shiny.

In this particular scenario incident of Jacob "hijakig" F-16 and freeing of Madam by IA made it very clear to China about possible Indian response. So now China do not want to indulge in a loosing war. This can be reason Shankar may use here and not "goody-goody" relation of India with chinkies.

Jtull
China is one country which puts its national pririty over everything and at any cost . Their national priority on 2007 was integration of taiwan with main land and to that they knew a naval confrontation with US is unavoidable . While they really did not expect indias direct help they surely did not want indian navy with its 2 carrier groups and ultra powerful destroyers alligned against them .
Pakistan for china is a liability now and imore so it will be in 2007 . It has served its purpose and that purpose more or less ended with 1971 . No nation on earth can realistically expect pakistan in todays state to counetr or balance indian military economic capability .China is a very pragmatic nation and in a scenario like the one being painted it will definitely not join in to save a dying nation from disaster simply because it does nothing to improve its position in the subcontinent .

To fight US china needs economic muscle which can only then be converted to military might with russian assistance .That is the broad chinese game plan .The economic muscle can be created faster with growing bi lateral trade with india and not pakisan. So the utility of pakistan to china as on date is almost zero except as a nuisance value to India.

China has another important very personal reason to engage Pakistan.
the swamp the ISI has managed to create in Afganistan-Pakistan would sooner or later expand to chinese muslim territories. Chinese presence in Pakistan keeps the ISI - Army wallahs amused and distracted. A nudge here, a wink there, and a warning glare, and their little game gets done quite sweetly indeed - thank you.

Pakistan- alone as it stands today, has this one last shoulder to cry on. And you bet the chinesewould be extracting their pound of flesh.

Of course keeping India facing westwards has worked for 5 decades, there is no reason it should not work for quite some time more...

AF 601 - OVER KAJAKSATAN AIRSPACE
------------------------------------------------
The weather was much better as distant mountain ranges came into view . This must be one of the most beautiful palces on the planet thought Capt Nicholai .He was an avid wild life and nature enthusiast and whenevr he had time ,took off with his faithful panasonic camcorder to remore reaches of siberian forest to shoot the famed but now almost extinct Amur tigers in their natural habitat or the worldslargets brown bears in kamchatska peninsula . This visit to Inda he planned onmaking a short trip to Bandhavgarh reserve forest to shoot for his collection the well known sisters of Amur -the Benagl tigers and delhi was just under 3 hrs flight time .

Back in the passenger section most of the high profile passengers were sleeping off the vodka effect and chief air hostess Natalia took time off to bring some hot coffee to the flight deck and also chat up the good looking first officer Alexi .She was looking forward to a day out with him visiting the historical and not so historical tourist spots of Delhi.

And in the cargo bay ,unknown to any of them the timer ticked on relentlessly in a few minutes its robotic brain will decide to send a small electric pulse cutting off the fuel flow to the engines and creating an emergency in moreways than one .

PAF FLIGHT DELTA ALPHA OVER KRYGYSTAN AIRSPACE-4xC130
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wing comander Haji ali switched on his transmit button for approach clearence to Osh airport barely 75 kms away .
-Osh tower -PAF flight alpaha delta request permission to land as filed -request refuelling facility -thank you
-PAF flight you are cleared to land on runway 34 -make left down wind -refuelling arrangement available
- thankk you Osh tower
As he pushed the throttle levers forward to 60% power and deployed flaps for the landing Haji ali knew he has taken the final step in somewhat dubious military mission . But he really did not have any option as the order for this particular mission has come from the supreme commander of the armed forces and being implemented by the dreaded Inter service intelligence a name evry pakistani whether civilian or military hoped never to hear .The price for refusal to take part in one of their covert missions will not only mean an end to his profesional career but may invite untold miseries on hisfamily members . This he surly did not want to happen

The ISI was founded in 1948 by british armo officer Maj Gen R Cawthome then acting as deputy chief of staff of pakistani army. Ayub khan later expanded its role to monitor opposition politicians and sustain military rule . Apart from collecting inteligence ISI is also tasked with monitoring all politically sensitive segments of pakistani society including diplomats serving in pakistan and pakistani diplomats serving overseas. The control of all covert military operation lies within their jurisdiction..They are not really answerable to any one and extensive narco -arms deals were executed by them to finance to finace Talibans and later their own activities. Divided into several directorates like JIX ( co ordination and administration ) JIB (political intelligence) JCIB( intel on pakistani diplomats,counter intelligence operations and intelligence colection from middle east ,central asian republics ,chinaand afganistan) JIN ( jammu and kashmir infiltration ,propaganda etc) JIM ( genearl espionage ) JSIB ( signal intelligence ) JIT ( technical intelligence )

The 4 C-130 Hercules landed precisely at 5 minutes interval on the runway of osh airport and directed to the technical refuelling area close to the general parking bays . Osh is not a busy airport and at this particular time of the day no other aircraft was was parked except a small citation belonging to a loacl ruling elite .

One by one the four aircraft lined up for refuelling . The airport manager was very happy ,afterall not everyday so much hard currency payment is made in cash and he was sure the pakistani pilots will pay all the fuel and landing charges in cash as custom andmaybe be will not ask for reciept .

The total security team consisted of a single squad of local para military forec and armed with Ak 47 s of soviet era . They were not expecting any trouble and when the rear clam doors of hercules opened and the pakistani special forces fanned out to take control fo the airport they were more surprised than scared . Two of them tried to resist and quickly take out in a volley of automatic fire . Within fifteen minutes of landing the pakistani teams have managed totake complete control fo the airport including the air trafic control tower. The air force controller specifically deputed for this mission took up his job and scanned the radar dispaly for the russian aircraft.He was not dissapointed -the Tupoleb was just wher it was supposed to be and about to enter Krygystan airspace in 7 minutes time .

IAF STATIO FARKHOR -TAJIKISTAN
------------------------------------------
Sunil ayengar watched the four c-130 s make the final approach for landing over osh and also from the north he identified the Tu-155 turn south east at flight level 350 on its way to Delhi . He told the young radar operator to keep a close watch on Krygystan sector particularly the pakistani aircrafts and then went out to check personally the OR platforms which today were 4 mirage 2000 5 .

AF 601 JUST OUTSIDE KYRGYSTAN AIRSPACE
--------------------------------------------------------
the engine sound did not sound normal to Capt Nicholai as he contacted Bishek center for permission to enter Kyrgyz airspace
- Alexi can you please check the flight engineer to have a look at the fuel pumps -looks like they are cavitating bit too much - rpm is erratic
-yes sir replied alexi always prompt in response not so in action
- Bishek centre AF 601 -enroute to Delhi -flight level 350 -request flight following
-roger that AF 601 - sqwak 4532 - pl acknowledge

Tcountry of kyrgystan is a beautiful mountaneous country full of valleys and small mountain streams. Bishek is the capital city and Osh the second important ciity . It does not have any armed forces capable of defending the country and depends on russian border trops to do the need ful . Russia obliges mainly because of close proximity of the three bordering countries china,,uzbekistan ,tajakistan and kazakistan . Total population is around 5 million and only 53% are kyrgyz aand rest made up of russians and bordering countries immigrants. Seventy five percent are muslims by religion and rest russian orthodox.

For captain Nicholai however the most interesting part about kyrgystan was the presence of large number of snow leopards the biggest in world and a massive international programme undertaken to save the near extinct species. The elusive snow leopard with its bushy tail is one of the three most endangered big cat species in the world. Very little specific information is available about them since they live in moutain ranges between 1600 and 5000 mtrs high . Organising treks to spot snow leopards is big business in Kyrgystan .

The sudden reduction in cabin noise jolted Nicholai into action as one after another the three massive tail mounted engines died on him and the air speed started bleeding off with alercity . The master caution warning started blipping and the audio alarm went on continious .

- may day may day may day - THIS IS af 601 declaring full emergency -all engines dead -request emergency landing
- AF 601 your nearest airport is Osh - contact Osh tower on frequency 121. 5 -over
- Osh tower - request priority landing clearence - total engine failure
- AF 601 you are clered to land
The voice sounded brethless and a different accent thought Alexi as he quickly set course for a direct approach .

Tu 155k was a modified version of veritable tu 154 is almost a standard airliner for Russia ,Eastern Europe and Iran. It was developed from the twin engined Tu 104 and An 10 /IL 38 turbprops . Designed to operate from gravel airfields and capable of high altitude flight and able to land or take off from snow covered runways by virtue of its large low pressure tyres and ofcourse its three rear mounted Nk 8-2 engines .With a max take off load of 90000 kgs and long unrefueled range was a truely a rough mans jumbo . The three 103.6 kn engines would allow it to take off from almost any standard airfield under any weather condition .

- i have visul confirmation of runway - intoned his co pilot Alexi
- Ladies and gentlemen we are making an emergency landing due to slight technical proble with the aircrafts engines -pl follow the directions of the cabin crews - thank you
- alexi set flaps for approach - lower undercarriage only after we get established on the localiser
-roger that sir -airspeed 350 knots - range to airport 16 kms
altitude 4000 mtrs
It took all of Nicholais skill and experience to control the giant aircraft which tended to pitch up with sharp fall in air speed .
- 3 kms to runway - altitude 2000 mtrs -permission to lower undercarriage
-roger that xo - lower undercarriage
The massive undercarriage lowered into the slip stream and the aircraft visibly braked at this unusal drag with no power to keep uniform air speed over the wings got slowed down suddenly
-500 mtrs to runway -airspeed 180 knots
-lower flaps 15 degree set all brakes to full auto -deploy spoilers on ground contact
- flaps 15 degree -brakes on auto -spoilers on auto
And the Tupolev 155k touched ground with amighty thud -the vertical speed way over recomended 150 ft /min and two of the tyres burst but the ruggedness of russian aerspace designcame into their rescue . The aircraft was still controllable and came to a full stop with more than 100 mtrs to spare .

Good storyline.
BTW most people fail to notice some very strange features of TU-142 Bear: The pop driven aircraft uniquly has a highly swept back wing. A testment to its high speed of 925Kmph that rivals and often beats most new big jet powered aircraft.

The huge wingspan lend it a very efficient lifting surface and very long range/endurance capability and also an incredible 45,000 ft service ceiling that is unheard of any prop driven aircraft.

The large propellers work very efficiently (as compared to ducted fan driven by jets) for slow speed station keeping, towards very long endurence survillance mission.

PRESIDENTS OFFICE -ISLAMABAD
-----------------------------------------
The cool president of pakistan was sauve as usal at the hastily called press conference . He smiled at the assembled media personnel and started reading out from a prepared text -a thing which he normally avoids
" ladies and gentlemen the govt of pakistan regerts to announce a group of kashmiri and chechan jehadis supported by some rogue elements of our interservice inelligence troops and pilots of transport squadron have unlawfully taken control of a russian aircraft under delivery to india in the state of kyrgystan .
We are making every effort to solve the problem and would expect the russian and indian authorities will not do any thing repeat anything that can endanger the safety of the aircraft and its passengers.

My personal suggestion is they meet the demands made by the jehadis which include
1) snapping off of all military ties between russia and india
2) immediate cesation of all hostilities by the indian armed forces
3) restoration of sanctitiy of international border and line of control to 2005 days
4) a cash payment in gold of a sum of 5 billion us dollars towards the rehabilation of families of those killed in this brutal war

The president folded back the paper and carefully kept it back in his pocket . The BBC journalist in the front row was shocked to see the paper which he folded up so carefully was in fact a blank one .

There was no questions - the world watched and listened in undsguised horror at this naked demonstration of state sponsered terrorism at its brutal best .

OSH AIRPORT- KYRGYSTAN
------------------------------------

Capt Nicholai was trying to staunch the flow of blood from his forehead ,a gift of an ISI trooper before he smashed up the VHF tranciever . Alexi was lying on the cockpit floor dead since he tried to resist the pakistani soldiers as they rushed the aircraft immediately on touch down. In the passenger cabin Natalia was tryong her best to comfort the VIP paasengers with coffee laced with vodka and whatever hot snacks still available in the small galley .

The ISI has learned its lessons from Entabe . All the passengers were kept handcuffed to the seats inside aircraft and the C-4 blocks with embeded radio controlled detonators placed all around the airframe . The stinger missile teams lined the runway facing outwards and the machine gun teams took up position just outside the tarmac on airport perimeter with the carefuly positioned machine gun posts with more than 30% overlapping fields of fire . The mortars and RCL guns were placed in the outer most circle carefully camaflaged in thick bush and gulleys almost invisible to overflyi ng aircraft and satelites .

Brig Habib was happy with his deployment and now he relaxed inside the airconditioned Humvee with a cigar in one hand and the radio detonator in other . He was sure russia will not take the risk of a botched rescue and indians the less said the better

PRESIDENTS OFFICE -RUSSIA -KREMLIN
-------------------------------------------------
the president of russia was a man of few words and of incredible determination and had the had the unusal capability of getting things done which others will give up thinking impossible . His career in inteligence services spoke of so many commendations that even he has forgotten now. The two persons in world arena with whom he had instant rapport was starngely poles apart . The first was his arch enemy the president of united states and other the soft spoken prime miniter of India.

The reason was very simple -he dislike any form of terorism with an unmatched intensity even more than the american president or the indian armed forces -to those who use terror as a currency of power holding the live of unarmed civilians i stake just dont deserve to live -they need to be put out quickly and effectively just as you put out a swarm of locusts or arabid dog . This often landed him in bad books of worlds press particularly in his dealings with chechan teros but for him it just did not matter .

The high resolution sat imagery was on his desk right now clearly showing the deployment pakistani forces around the Tu-155 taken just 15 minutes back . 155 unarmed russian and indian civilians were trapped inside with no sign of help anywhere . He could visualise their plight as he picked up the hot line phone - a tripple encrypted digital data link to washington d.c and after 10 minutes once again contacted Delhi . Things started to move very fast then . The Bear was angry very angry indeed and had the stealthy tiger by its side .

MEDICAL GAS FACTORY OF RUSSIAN OXYGEN -MOSCOW
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The days production was totally out of gear as entire production of nitrous oxide was requisitioned by the russain airforce colonel without any explanation . Huge airforce trucks connected the high pressure filling hoses to streamlined containers inside . Afew curious workers who wanted to peep inside was rudely shooed off by the spetsnaz troopers guarding the convoy. The filling was over in less than 3 hours . More than 40 tons of nitrous oxide have been filled into eight bullet shaped cannisters and the convoy rushed off to a military airbase outside moscow where they were loaded on to 4 Tupolev 160 blackjack bombers . The moment the loading wa complete a special group of technicians wearing gas masks and close circuit breathing apparatus got busy hooking up a crop dusting attachment to the air frame . The whole exercise lasted 2 hrs and then the giant long range bombers were on their way southwards onwards to IAF base in Tajikstan and then Osh.

SPETSNAZ BASE SOME WHERE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA
---------------------------------------------------------------
"who dares wins " is the motto of the special forces all over the world though officially it belongs to SAS the british special forces . Unlike the much publicised delta forces of US russian special forces called spetsnaz is the largest special forces organisation in the world . They were instrumental in almost bloodless take over of chezkoslovakia in 60 s and was essentially built up to neutralise NATO command and communication net work in western europe in cold war days . Ak 74 was the standard assualt rifle carried by most of them fitted out with silencer and flask suppressor . Few of them where carrying Dragonov sniper rifles fitted out with laser range finders and hand made holow tipped 7.63 m shells . All of them carried a large bladed knife the perfect tool for a silent kill . All of them were trained to kill without remorse . The 2 An 124 s landed in IAF station at Tajikstan in 2 hrs time . Between them they carried 150 fully armed spetsnaz troopers . The indian contingent of 125 national security guards contingent joined them later . unlike russian spaecial forces the indian forces were mostly armed with Heckler and Kosch mk 23 submachine guns with under slung grenade launchers .

All of them were carrying their personal gas masks and square shaped sky divers parachute .

MEDICAL GAS FACTORY OF RUSSIAN OXYGEN -MOSCOW-------------------------------------------------------------------The days production was totally out of gear as entire production of nitrous oxide was requisitioned by the russain airforce colonel without any explanation ..

............

The 2 An 124 s landed in IAF station at Tajikstan in 2 hrs time . Between them they carried 150 fully armed spetsnaz troopers . The indian contingent of 125 national security guards contingent joined them later . unlike russian spaecial forces the indian forces were mostly armed with Heckler and Kosch mk 23 submachine guns with under slung grenade launchers .

All of them were carrying their personal gas masks and square shaped sky divers parachute .

IAF STATION FARKHOR- TAJIKISTAN
-------------------------------------------
Time is everything repeated the spetsnaz major to indian and russian specialforces personnel as he sketched out the interior of the Tupolov airliner highlighting the entry points and areas to avoid particularly the centre line cryogenic fuel tank. OK we try again with 6 simultaneous entries and in less than 90 seconds from go . the troops once again lifted the heavy gears and started the practicing the storming procedure once again .

Because of the familiarity with the aircraft and since both pilots were russian the command of the operation went to english speaking russian major.The indian team was entrusted with the responsibility of neutralising the perimeter and runway defenses . Each team was impregnated with 1 dozen members of the other team to take care of linguistic difficulties when dealing with the captors or the passengers . And then it was time to rest for a few hours and then -go go .

The 4 mirage 2000s were loaded with 1000 kg cluster bombs .They did not carry any self defense weapons except a pair of mica and usal complement of flare and chaff .

At last the mixed convoy of death was ready . The Tu-160 s took off first and quickly dissapeared eastwards folowed by the AN 124 s of russian air force then the Mirage 2000 5 of indian air force and last the IL 76 s carrying mixed bag of indian special forces.

Time to destination was 40 minutes .

OSH AIRPORT KYRGYSTAN
--------------------------------
Nitrous oxide is an anesthatic gas widely used in genaral surgery .It is not toxic and fatal only if inhaled in large concentration. Since it is about 1.5 times heavier than air it causes asphyxation by dispalceing air from lungs and is easily absorbed by blood .

Nitrous oxide is also called laughing gas since in low concentration it makes the victim laugh as ressult of partial loss of motor co ordination and degrades reflex by a substantial degree .Once diluted with large quantities of air its looses its effectiveness rapidly and within 15 minutes will get dispersed in a windy place like Osh leaving no side effects and no residual toxicity .
On top of it it is completely colourless and odourless making it impossible to detect by the victims till he has absorbed enough to looses conciousness or normal reflexes .

It was a dark moonless night

The 4 mirage 2000 s came in first way over the speed of sound and the pakistani forces got wind of it when they were past effective stinger range and their perimeter security started blowing up like a diwal firecrackers as the cluster bombs did what they were supposed to do . Brig habib came out his airconditioned cocoon and snatched up the radio detonator as he took stock of the situation . The multiple sonic booms hit him as the departing mirages exited in a classic low -low high flight profile and turned back at the distance for a low altitude gun pass
The Tu-160 s came in low taking advantage of momentary confusion in pakistani ranks who have taken up secondary defensive positions just outside the runway perimeter and dropped their deadly cargo in unison .the gas came out of the spray nozzles and blanketed the entire pakistani positions .Within seconds the well disciplined force started behaving like road side drunks as the invisible gas worked it way into their blood stream

Most of them died like that .

The indo -russian special forecs group landed amonst them in a classic hi altitude low opening dive favoured by para commandoes world over. Brig Habib was the first to go with a ful burst of 5.56 mm soft nosed shells wrecking his body in a macbre dance of death. Others were not so lucky .Most had their Juglar cut off by the spetsnaz troopers as tried to make sense of the black clad gas masked phantom figures with long knives .
Those who survived the mirage strike were more lucky they atleast died with a bullet between their eyes or a short burst on the chest from the national security guards .

The siege was over in less than 12 minutes from start to finish . As the indians and russians defused the explossive blocks and entered the aircraft they were surprised to see only a single pakistani soldier inside holding a 9 mm berretta to the neck of Natlia . A look at the massed ugly snouts of ak-74 and H&K and the soldier lost his nerve , he surrenderd .